I see a few near the coast on google. I was told they were planted large fronting a nice and big Hotel. They have the "coconut juuuuust making it look" like what you see in the California desert. Interesting that those Coconuts had tall Howea palms next to them. But,yes,I would trade for the Brisbane climate. Ironic that here in the bay area we also have a city named Brisbane. Its a very cool ,mild climate..not Brisbane like in summer!

Hi Janine Martin's and Carol I am also from Jhb, I import plumeria/frangipani seed and grow them. Frangipanis are relatively full up here, many have them on their pavements but it is the normal white, yellow, light pink or a darker pink. As our climate in summer is very hot rooting a cutting I a pot would mean that every now and again you would have to spray the soil to keep it just slightly moist of the cutting g may dry out completely and die. Keeping them to moist causes rot and you will lose the cutting. In milder climates the soil won't dry out as quickly as I South Africa but here I find missing the pot every 3 days or so in summer keeps just enough moisture in the pot to prevent drying out. I also use a an instrument to measure moisture content in my pots especially amorphophallus as they need water but not too much. Regards Vici

Hi Nk777, I agree with aimar. You really need to watch your fertilizers. The middle number should be higher than the rest. If the owner before fed it a higher nitrogen fertilizer, than this alone could have been the problem, combined with weather it was in a sunny location. So many things that can affect the plumeria. Me myself, I was never succesfull until I bought an actual plumeria blend fertilizer. A lot of people will say that it isn't necessary. All I know is once I used it, I had blooms. In fact, I had blooms on cuttings that had just rooted last summer. Another thing to really consider. I know this will sound strange but I swear to this and if you check out the Aloha Plumeria group on Yahoo, you will see that many of us there also swear to this. It is called the "Raw Egg Method". This is used to root plumeria cuttings, but also to use for established and growing trees. basically whenever you repot this plumeria, you take a whole raw egg, shell and all, and you put it on about an inch of soil in the bottom of the pot. then you fill with the rest of your soil add your plumeria, and pot up as usual. I know it sounds strange, but many people have done this and reported the same results. The all ready rooted tree will build larger and healthier roots. They will find there way to that egg and dissolve the nutrients in the egg, which in turn feed the plumeria. If you go to the Aloha plumeria group, you can see pics of people's plumerias and see for yourself how the roots grow like crazy. I really believe that the nutrition in the egg is what made my plumeria cuttings bloom there first year. Another trick that may sound a little odd is to use small spears of banana peels. Mimi the moderator of the Aloha group just told me about this. I had bought a Penang Peach plumeria in November. When it arrived, it was loaded with buds. All the buds had opened and dropped by mid Decemeber. I want to say around the first week of December was when I had given this a try. I just made a whole with a bamboo pole that I use for support, and made a hole about 3-4 inches down, and I dropped the peel in, and buried it. Now, I have around 50 buds and 2 are open now. these flowers are a lot bigger than the original flowers that bloomed in Novemeber. I did have a guy tell me to be carefull with this when growing indoors. He had said that he tried it and ended up with an ant problem but I have yet to see an ant yet and it has been about a month since I added them to my 'Penang Peach' and to my 'Dwarf Singapore Pink' plumeria. Andrew

Hi Verandah, Greathawks and brissi555......I just happened to check the Australian Forum for tropical plants, is anyone still cultivate Plumerias/Frangipani ? I was actually in Brisbane for a month, visiting one of my sister and her families, she lives in the area of Chermside! Did any of you buy Plumerias at one of your local nurseries or from a website ? I'll be curious to know because I have 10 of them, here in the San Francisco peninsula. Well...good to know you....maybe you can check the GardenWeb Forums/Plumeria !! Hopefully I will find you in the near future, Annamaria